Oscillation-receiving device.



OSCILLATiON RECEIVQNG DEWCE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-8. m3.

1, 1 36,0455?n Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

En V611 for:

GREENLEAF WHIT'IIIER' PICKARID, or. AMESBURY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR- 'rowmnnnss snEcIAL'rY APPARATUS compan or BOSTON, massacnusn'r'rs, A

CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

oscrnnarron anonrvme DEVICE,

Specification of Letters, 1atent. P t t p 1915! I Original application filed J'u1y 2 4, 1911, Serial'No. 640,106. lllvide'd'and this application filed December 8,-

, T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Gnnnunmr Wnrrrma P onann, a citizen-of the United States of America,and a resident of Amesbury, Mas- ,sachuset'ts, have'invented certain new and useful Improvements. in Oscillation-Receiving Devices, the principles of which are set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawing, which disclose the;

form of the invention which I! now consider to be the best of the variousforms in which the principles of the invention may be embodied.

This invention relates to wireless telegraphy detectors of the rectifier type, as now well known in the art, the object being to improve the electrical stability of the device; and is also a division of my applica tion-for patent Serial Number..(i4ll ,106,.filed July24cth, 1911, and relates particularly to the arsenic member in contact with the silicon. I

The. invention consists in employing, 1n

coiiperation with the rectifying substance,

another substance .in contact therewith whieh possesses peculiar propertles whlch result in very greatly improving the electrical stabil-.

ity of'the device which includes the rectifying material. i

Of the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of an apparatus embodying the invention, and Fig. .2 is a vertical section taken transversely through A, B, Fig. 1.

Electrical instability has been a well known fault of the rectifier type of detec:

. tor. That is, it has been found in practice that electrical currents or oscillations materially stronger than those of received sigfault by producing a combination which re-' mains in operative adjustment under substantially all conditions which haveipreviously caused instability.

I have found thatthe invention is best executed byemploying as the substance in,

small-contact can always exist. The fact is that all the materials which produce the desired result are characterized by extreme 'brittlenesaand all of them I have found so' far are included in' a peculiar new class (brittle) of the materials classified by Men'- deljeif in his well-known'period-law table.

(However, I do not wish to'be .understood as asserting that the brittleness necessaril has any essential relation to the operation-K, Specifically the materials most usefulwith- I in the invention, are the following conductors, 6., the metals arsenic (As), antimony (Sb), and bismuth (Bi), the best of which seems to be As. On reference to Mendeljelfs table, it will be seen that all these are comprised in group V, and in the odd-numbered series therein; 6. e. as is in'the fifth. series of group V, Sb is in the seventh series of roup V, and Bi is in the eleventh series of group V. The materials under the even-numbered series seem not so well .adapted for use in the invention, although of course, I desire to include in the claims, all materials which are so adapted in greater or less degree. However, the materials which now seem most useful under the invention, are included in said special class of Men deljeffs group V and all characterized by extreme brittleness, as well as by other prop.-

"erties, among which are that there normally exists a tarnish or oxid coat on any exposed surface of these materials; and in'use under the invention it is this tarnished surface which is used in contact with the rectifying material, that is to say, the surface becomes tarnished so quickly that notwithstanding the readiness of fracture, the fracture surface becomes tarnished almost immediately,

and I do not assert that the tarnish has anything to do with the action'of the device. The rectifying-material which up to the present time 1 have found to be most usefully employed in combination with these brittle conductors, is the element silicon, and particularly when used with a substantially rough or unpolished surface, such as an ordinary fracture face, in' contact with the brittle conductor such as arsenic, etc.

The drawings show a detector-holder of substantially the construction shown in my prior Patent 912,726, dated February 16th, 1909. The rectifying material S, such as silicon, and the cooperating conductor A, such arsenic, are held, preferably by soft read-- ily fusible metal, in cups, one orboth of the cups being'adjustable so that contact selection may be had between S and A. As

shown, the silicon preferably has a rough surface presented to A. Likewise, the surface of the brittle conductor A which is presented to S, is rough, produced as by making a fracture.

So far as I have determined as yet, the cooperating contact members of this invention do not of themselves have the characteristic of rectifying, except as to such extent as may be due to the tarnish on their surface. Hence their function is substantially limited to that of furnishing astable contact for the other or rectifying member; although it would not be a departure from the invention to employ a material which also rectified in addition to executing the functions of'the cooperating aontact members of the invention. Of coursed-he invention. may be embodied in various mechanical forms, and by way of illustration,reference is here made to another desirable form, which consists in employing one of the brittle conductors, such as arsenic, as the sleeve 7 (or as a lower part of such sleeve) of Fig. 1 of my prior Patent 836,531, dated November 20th, 1906. Preferably asmall mass of the arsenic is soldered erative portion is probably a single point effectively projecting from such surface.

1 claim 1. As a receiving device for wireless telegraphy oscillations, the combination with a member containing silicon, of a contacting member containing the metal arsenic.

2. As a receiving device for wireless telegraphy oscillations, the combination with a member consistin of the element silicon, of a contacting mom or consistingofthe metal arsenic.

3. As a receiving device for wireless telegraphy oscillations, the combination with a silicon member, of an arsenic member having a rough surfacein contact with said silicon member.

GREENLEAF WlllT'llER PICKARD.

In presence of- W'ILLIAM J. BARKLEY, M. G. HANNON. 

